The justice system in Mali put Boubacar Karamoko Traoré in the dock yesterday, Monday, July 1st. A confident of the transitional Prime Minister, Choguel Maïga, Traoré has been charged with “undermining the credit of the State, among other charges. He serves as mission officer at the Prime Minister’s office and president of the faction of the political movement M5-RFP revealing loyalty to the transitional Prime Minister.
He was arrested on the 27th of May following dissemination of a highly critical text he had written about military leadership. Though a sentence has not yet been pronounced against Traoré, the prosecutor asked for a one-year prison sentence, nevertheless.
Traoré faces charges of “undermining the credit of the State, “contempt of court,” and “spreading false statements likely to disrupt public peace.”
“These charges are entirely baseless, and the prosecutor has not furnished any evidence,” said defence lawyer Koto Traoré. He claims a memorandum published by his client in May did not amount to a diatribe against military authorities but was rather a “collection of ideas,” authored “on behalf of his movement.” He says the document is for assessing what has succeeded and failed since the transitional rectification, with critiques aimed at benefiting the Malian people.
Last month, transitional Prime Minister Choguel Maïga publicly defended his associate, stating, “No one can say there is anything in there that is false.”
Would that mean that this suit is intended to weaken Choguel Maïga? “For me, no,” declared Boubacar Karamoko Traoré’s defense counsel, Koto Traoré, requesting an absence of conviction on the part of the defendant based on proximity to a political actor or belonging to a movement. It is therefore a full acquittal for which the lawyer has pleaded for Boubacar Karamoko Traoré.
In April, another member of the M5-RFP, Abdel Kader Maïga, close to the transitional Prime Minister, was condemned to two years in prison, with one year suspended, in connection with the manifestation of disagreements between the Prime Minister’s office and military authorities.
The case spotlights substantive differences within the transitional government of Mali and makes a strong point on how political dissidence is being treated at this very incipient stage. Since it might turn out to be a precedent for other such cases in the near future, the outcome of Traoré’s trial would be awaited with bated breath.